You are here

Trending

1989 Hillsborough Disaster

A British court yesterday quashed accidental death verdicts returned after 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death at the Hillsborough football stadium in 1989, while police launched a new probe into the disaster.

"The gladiators enter the arena, the field of praise - Saturday's weather perfect for the occasion." So opens a short documentary by the BBC news programme Panorama, made in 1964. The presenter was at Anfield to report on the sociological phenomena aka The Kop, the famous terracing where the Liverpool fans stood, swayed and sung their hearts out - all 28,000 of them.

The largest independent probe into British police was launched yesterday to examine potential criminal actions by officers involved in the 1989 Hillsborough soccer disaster, in which 96 spectators died after a crowd crush in the stadium.

What’s in a handshake? Everything it seems. They have long been symbolic of friendship, co-operation and sportsmanship as well as presenting diplomatic minefields – little wonder the short ritual has been examined over the decades by an army of sociologists and cultural attachés.

On Wednesday, September 5, I saw Hong Kong police officers deployed on the bridge at the Lo Wu border crossing, attempting to protect hundreds of kindergarten and primary school students making their way to the mainland side.

Ged Corless still remembers the crush of the crowd as he and fellow Liverpool fans forced their way out of the overcrowded enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, on April 15, 1989.

British police accused of serious failings and a cover-up over the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster could face investigation after their force said on Thursday it was preparing to refer the case to the police watchdog.